up to par

Idioms and Phrases

Also, up to scratch or snuff or speed or the mark . Satisfactory, up to a given standard, as in She didn't feel up to par today so she stayed home , or I'm sure he'll come up to scratch when the time comes , or She's up to snuff again . Nearly all the versions of this idiom come from sports, par from golf, scratch and mark from boxing (after being knocked down a fighter had eight seconds to make his way to a mark scratched in the center of the ring), and speed from racing. However, the allusion in the variant with snuff , which dates from the early 1800s, has been lost.

Example Sentences

While Latorre advertised himself on his Instagram and other social media as a “plastic surgeon board certified” in Argentina and a “registered nurse first assistant” in the U.S. who worked on “educational medical teaching,” law enforcement said that his medical qualifications were not up to par when he treated a woman three times in 2021.

From Los Angeles Times

"It obviously was not the result I wanted, but of course in the first couple of sets the level of tennis wasn’t up to par from my side," Djokovic said.

From BBC

Piazzas are being repaved, bike paths charted and 5G cells built, all aiming to bring the Eternal City up to par with other European capitals and take advantage of the 1.3 billion euros in special Jubilee funding and some 3 billion euros more in other public and EU funds that are available.

From Seattle Times

Service members and military veterans on the Reddit news and discussion site said the reasons recruiting was not up to par in 2023 and likely won’t improve much in 2024 range from poor living conditions in the barracks to toxic unit-level leadership.

From Washington Times

The League of Women Voters of Washington agreed voter turnout this year “is not up to par.”

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• normal
• reasonable
• wise